The rules for building Data Centers are being rewritten right now, in county hearings, state legislatures and loan committees. And they harden every month. New York has paused permits. Fifteen states have weighed moratoriums. Lenders now treat local opposition as credit risk.

This is a solvable problem, and almost nobody is solving it. The industry is judged as one category, so no single operator gets credit for good behavior, which means the first to break out defines the standard.

The briefing sets out how: promises published per site, schools first, and a permission score that runs before capital commits.